Nature Reviews Microbiology, Published online: 04 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s41579-026-01356-1In a recent study, Shalev and colleagues demonstrate that enhanced resource diversity in microbial communities can reduce microbial biodiversity, challenging current ecological theories.

Abstract. Bacteria usually live in complex communities interacting with many other microbial species. These interactions determine who can persist in a com

The origin of biodiversity is arguably the most fundamental question in ecology - especially how countless microbial species coexist within a single community. A prevailing hypothesis holds that micro...